Ad hoc merchant configuration system

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for providing a merchant virtual storefront to a customer device include a system provider device that receives, through communication over a network with a merchant device that is located at a merchant physical location, a request to establish a merchant virtual storefront from the merchant device. The system provider device also determines the merchant physical location associated with the merchant device. The system provider device analyzes the request to establish the merchant virtual storefront including determining a merchant offering. The system provider device thus generates the merchant virtual storefront that includes the merchant offering and the merchant physical location. In addition, the system provider device provides the merchant virtual storefront to a customer device.

BACKGROUND Field of the Invention

The present disclosure generally relates to ad hoc merchants and ad hocmerchant physical locations, and more particularly to an ad hoc merchantconfiguration system that provides a customer accessible virtualstorefront for an ad hoc merchant.

Related Art

More and more consumers are purchasing items and services overelectronic networks such as, for example, the Internet. Consumersroutinely purchase products and services from merchants and individualsalike. The transactions may take place directly between a conventionalor on-line merchant or retailer and the consumer, and payment istypically made by entering credit card or other financial information.Transactions may also take place with the aid of an on-line or mobilepayment service provider such as, for example, PayPal, Inc. of San Jose,Calif. Such payment service providers can make transactions easier andsafer for the parties involved. Purchasing with the assistance of apayment service provider from the convenience of virtually anywhereusing a mobile device is one main reason why on-line and mobilepurchases are growing very quickly.

Some payment service providers provide online and mobile paymentservices for merchants with merchant physical locations and theircustomers in order to allow the customers to make purchases from themerchants at the merchant physical locations. However, ad hoc merchantsthat operate without a traditional brick-and-mortar type of physicallocation may lack many of the benefits associated with such traditionaltypes of merchants. For example, ad hoc merchants may lack thetechnological infrastructure to utilize online and mobile paymentservices, advertise their business online, or provide secure electronictransactions for their customers. Currently, such merchants may rely onroadside stands with printed signs or magnetic signs affixed to theirvehicles, may be limited to accepting cash payments for products and/orservices, may find it difficult to attract new customers if they move toa new location, and may have to rely primarily on word-of-mouth toattract new customers. Moreover, ad hoc merchants may lack thetrustworthiness and/or name recognition that comes, in part, with havinga traditional brick-and-mortar business and/or through readilyaccessible online customer feedback and reviews.

Thus, there is a need for an ad hoc merchant configuration system thatprovides ad hoc merchants, and their customers, a secure and convenientway to conduct their business.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of an ad hocmerchant configuration system;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method forproviding a merchant virtual storefront to a customer device;

FIG. 3 is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a merchant devicedisplaying a virtual storefront creation request;

FIG. 4 is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a customer devicedisplaying a list of merchants with virtual storefronts;

FIG. 5 is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a customer devicedisplaying a virtual storefront for an ad hoc merchant;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of an ad hocmerchant configuration system including a customer device in proximityto a merchant device;

FIG. 7 is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a merchant devicedisplaying a customer check-in;

FIG. 8 is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a merchant devicedisplaying a payment request;

FIG. 9 is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a customer devicedisplaying a virtual storefront for an ad hoc merchant including apayment screen;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of an ad hocmerchant configuration system where a merchant device has moved toanother location;

FIG. 11 is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a merchant devicedisplaying a location heartbeat;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a networkedsystem;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a customerdevice;

FIG. 14 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a computersystem; and

FIG. 15 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a systemprovider device.

Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are bestunderstood by referring to the detailed description that follows. Itshould be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identifylike elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, whereinshowings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of thepresent disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for providing acustomer accessible virtual storefront for an ad hoc merchant. As usedherein, the term “virtual storefront” generally refers to an electronicrepresentation of a business (e.g., accessible via a computer and/ormobile electronic device). By way of example, a virtual storefront asdescribed herein may include a merchant listing within a searchableelectronic directory of merchants. Additionally, in other examples, avirtual storefront may include a merchant-specific electronic page(e.g., web page and/or other electronic page accessible through anapplication executing on a computing device). As discussed below, such amerchant-specific electronic page may include any of a plurality ofmerchant information such as a merchant name, a map showing a merchantlocation, a listing of merchant offerings (i.e., goods and/or services),a price list, hours of operation, a merchant rating and/or score, and/orother merchant information known in the art. In some examples, asdescribed in the present disclosure, a virtual storefront may beaccessible to a customer via a website (e.g., accessible through anInternet connection using a mobile device and/or a personal computer).In other examples, as discussed above, the virtual storefront of thepresent disclosure may be accessible to a customer by way of a mobileapplication executing on the customer's mobile device.

Further, as used herein, the term “ad hoc merchant” generally refers toa merchant without a traditional brick-and-mortar location. In someexamples, an ad hoc merchant may include a handyman such as a carpenter,electrician, tile installer, plumber, framer, roofer, painter,landscaper, and/or other type of skilled tradesman operating from theirown vehicle such as a work truck, van, and/or other type of vehicle. Inother examples, an ad hoc merchant may include a vendor selling food,crafts, furniture, jewelry, and/or other goods on their person, in theirpossession, or from a vehicle, a pushcart, a trailer, and/or other typeof mobile storefront. Conventionally, such ad hoc merchants typicallylack the technological infrastructure to utilize online and mobilepayment services, advertise their business online, or provide secureelectronic transactions for their customers. As such, conventional adhoc merchants typically rely on makeshift signs and may only accept cashpayments for their products and/or services. Additionally, it may bedifficult for such conventional merchants to advertise their business,particularly when at a new location, and those merchants may lack thetrustworthiness that comes, in part, with having a traditionalbrick-and-mortar business and/or through readily accessible onlinecustomer feedback and reviews.

In accordance with the various embodiments described herein, an ad hocmerchant may be able to take advantage of a secure, sophisticatedadvertising and payment infrastructure provided by a trusted serviceprovider, as well as gain customer trust and name recognition. While afew examples of an ad hoc merchant have been described, one of skill inthe art in possession of the present disclosure will recognize that awide variety of ad hoc merchants, providing many different types ofgoods and/or services, will benefit from the a systems and methodsdiscussed below, and thus will fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure. In various examples, an ad hoc merchant may submit a request(e.g., to a system provider over a network) via a merchant device toestablish a merchant virtual storefront. The system provider maydetermine the ad hoc merchant physical location and analyze the requestto establish the merchant virtual storefront. As part of the analyzingthe request, the system provide may determine one or more merchantofferings and generate the merchant virtual storefront that includes theone or more merchant offerings. Thereafter, the merchant virtualstorefront that includes the merchant physical location and merchantoffering may be provided to a customer device. As described in moredetail below, the system provider may also manage one or moretransactions between the merchant device and a customer device and mayperiodically confirm and/or update a merchant physical location.

Referring now to FIG. 1, an embodiment of an ad hoc merchantconfiguration system 100 is illustrated. The ad hoc merchantconfiguration system 100 includes a merchant device 102, a customerdevice 104, a network 106, and a system provider device 108. Themerchant device 102, the customer device 104, and the system providerdevice 108 are configured to communicate with one another by way of thenetwork 106. The network 106 may be implemented as a single network or acombination of multiple networks. For example, in various embodiments,the network 106 may include the Internet and/or one or more intranets,landline networks, wireless networks, cellular networks, satellitenetworks, and/or other appropriate types of networks. In some examples,the merchant device 102 and/or the customer device 104 may communicatethrough the network 106 via cellular communication. In other examples,the merchant device 102 and/or the customer device 104 may communicatethrough the network 106 via wireless communication (e.g., via a WiFinetwork). In yet other examples, the merchant device 102 and/or thecustomer device 104 may communicate through the network 106 via any of aplurality of other radio and/or telecommunications protocols. Inparticular, some embodiments described herein include communication fromthe merchant device 102 and/or the customer device 104, through thenetwork 106, to the system provider device 108 using a Short MessageService (SMS)-based text message.

The system provider device 108 may likewise couple to the network 106via a wired or wireless connection. As described in more detail belowwith reference to FIG. 15, the system provider device 108 may include anad hoc merchant engine, a communication engine, a merchant informationdatabase, and a customer database. Software or instructions stored onthe computer-readable medium, and executed by one or more processors ofthe system provider device 108, allows the system provider device 108 tosend and receive information over the network 106. Furthermore, thesystem provider device 108, for example by way of the ad hoc merchantengine, is configured to implement various embodiments as describedherein. In some examples, the system provider device 108 is configuredto generate a merchant virtual storefront, as described below, for amerchant associated with the merchant device 102 and located at an adhoc merchant location 103. Moreover, in various examples, the systemprovider device 108 is configured to provide the merchant virtualstorefront, as described below, to a customer associated with thecustomer device 104 and located at a customer location 105.

In some examples, regions defined by each of the ad hoc merchantlocation 103 and the customer location 105 may vary in size according tomethods used to determine the ad hoc merchant location 103 and/or thecustomer location 105. As is known in the art, the precision to whichthe location of a mobile device (e.g., the merchant device 102 and/orthe customer device 104) can be determined may be defined at leastpartly by the method used for location determination. For example, aglobal positioning system (GPS) location determination technique mayprovide an approximately 5-50 foot radius area within which a mobiledevice is located. In other examples, location determination bytriangulation (e.g., via cellular towers) may provide an approximately50-200 foot radius area within which a mobile device is located. Otherlocation determination methods such as cell sector based methods, WiFibased methods, subscriber identification module (SIM) based methods,and/or a variety of other methods known in the art may also be used andmay each have differing levels of precision. In other embodiments, it isenvisioned that a merchant, associated with the merchant device 102,and/or a customer associated with the customer device 104 mayalternatively manually input their location. For example, a merchant maywant to setup an ad hoc business at a particular street corner (e.g.,Fourth St. and Main St.), or at a particular address (123 Main St.), andthus the merchant may optionally communicate such information (i.e.,street corner or address) to the system provider device 106 (e.g., byway of a text message and/or email) by way of the network 102.

In the embodiments discussed below, the an ad hoc merchant configurationsystem and methods involve a system provider using a system providerdevice (e.g., the system provider device 108) to establish a virtualstorefront for an ad hoc merchant by communicating, through the network106, with the merchant device 102. As discussed in more detail below, amerchant associated with the merchant device 102 may submit a request(e.g., via the merchant device 102) to the system provider device 108 toestablish a virtual storefront. In some examples, the merchant requestmay include merchant information such as a merchant name, a merchantlocation, a merchant offering (i.e., a list of products and/orservices), a price list, hours of operation, and/or other suitablemerchant information. The system provider device may generate a virtualstorefront for the ad hoc merchant based at least partly on the merchantinformation provided by the merchant request. In some embodiments, thesystem provider may store any merchant information in a local database(e.g., at the system provider device 108) or in a remote database thatis in communication with the system provider, for example, by way of thenetwork 106. Additionally, as described in more detail below, the systemprovider (e.g., by way of the system provider device 108) may providethe ad hoc merchant virtual storefront to a customer device 104 throughthe network 106. In some examples, the virtual storefront may beprovided to a customer via a mobile application (app) executing on thecustomer device 104.

In some embodiments, the system provider may include a payment serviceprovider such as, for example, PayPal Inc. of San Jose, Calif., thatprovides the ad hoc merchant configuration system 100 for the merchantat the merchant location 103, receives a request to establish a virtualstorefront, and provides the virtual storefront to a customer device,through the network 106. In some embodiments, as discussed below, thepayment service provider process payment requests from the ad hocmerchant, may process payments from the customer to the ad hoc merchant,and may associate the ad hoc merchant location 103 (or its merchant),the customer location 105 (or its customer), merchant devices, customerdevices, and/or other components of the system with an ad hoc merchantaccount in a database located in a non-transitory memory. For example,the payment service provider may use a payment service provider deviceto transfer funds from a customer payment account (e.g., provided by anaccount provider through an account provider device, provided by thepayment service provider through the payment service provider device,etc.) of the customer to a merchant payment account (e.g., provided byan account provider through an account provider device, provided by thepayment service provider through the payment service provider device,etc.) of the merchant to provide payment from the customer to themerchant during a transaction.

Information sent and received through the network 106, merchant devices,and customer devices may be associated with the ad hoc merchant accountin the database, and any use of that information may be stored inassociation with that ad hoc merchant account. Furthermore, the paymentservice provider may provide the ad hoc merchant configuration systemfor a plurality of different ad hoc merchants and merchant physicallocations, similarly as described for the ad hoc merchant at themerchant location discussed below. Thus, references to a system provideroperating a system provider device below may refer to a payment serviceprovider operating a payment service provider device, or may refer toany other entity operating an ad hoc merchant configuration systemseparate from or in cooperation with a payment service provider.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an embodiment of a method 200 for providing amerchant virtual storefront to a customer device is illustrated. One ofskill in the art in possession of the present disclosure will recognizethat the method 200 may be performed for a plurality of different ad hocmerchants at a variety of physical locations, thereby creating a “pool”of ad hoc merchants represented by a plurality of virtual storefrontscreated by the communications between the merchants and the systemprovider and centrally accessible to any number of customers via theircustomer devices.

The method 200 begins at block 202 where a request to establish amerchant virtual storefront is received from a merchant device. Inparticular, with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, a specific example ofblock 202 of the method 200 is illustrated and described. Referringfirst to FIG. 3, an example of a merchant device 300 is provided. In theillustrated embodiment, the merchant device 300 includes a cell phonehaving a keypad 302 and a display 304. In some embodiments an ad hocmerchant, as described above, at an ad hoc merchant location 103 wishesto establish a virtual storefront accessible to potential customers(e.g., via a customer device 104) to indicate the availability of themerchant's products and/or services at the merchant location 103. Assuch, in some examples, the merchant associated with the merchant device300 may send an SMS (text) message, including a merchant request toestablish a virtual storefront, to a system provider by way of a network(e.g., the network 106). In some embodiments, as illustrated in thedisplay 304 of the merchant device 300 of FIG. 3, the merchant requestmay include merchant information such as a merchant name, a merchantlocation, a merchant offering (i.e., a list of products and/orservices), a price list, hours of operation, and/or a variety of othermerchant information known in the art. While the request at block 202 isillustrated and described as being sent using an SMS message via a“simple” phone (a conventional “flip-phone”) to illustrate how thesystems and methods of the present disclosure are accessible tomerchants with limited technology, in some embodiments, the request atblock 202 may be sent using a website or application executing on a“smart” phone or other relatively advanced computing system whileremaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

The method 200 then proceeds to block 204 where a physical location ofthe ad hoc merchant associated with the merchant device 300 isdetermined. Referring again to the example of FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, aspecific example of block 204 of the method 200 is illustrated anddescribed. Considering the example of the request to the system providerto establish a virtual storefront, as illustrated in the display 304 ofthe merchant device 300, the merchant request may include specificlocation information (e.g., a specific address or street intersection)as entered by the merchant. In other examples, the merchant may notspecifically include location information in the request, but rather themerchant request may include embedded information specific to themerchant device 300 such as embedded location information (e.g., using aGPS-based, triangulation-based, or other location based informationdetermined by a location determination system in the merchant device300). By way of example, the merchant may not need to specifically inputsuch embedded location information into the request; rather, suchembedded information may already be stored in a memory of the merchantdevice 300 and/or determined on a real-time basis. Thus, the embeddedlocation information can be transmitted as part of, or in conjunctionwith, the merchant request to the system provider by way of the network106. Upon determining the physical location of the ad hoc merchantassociated with the merchant device 300, for example according to one ofthe methods described above, the physical location of the ad hocmerchant may be associated with an ad hoc merchant's phone number and/orwith an ad hoc merchant account stored in a database accessible to thesystem provider device 108. In some embodiments, as discussed in moredetail below, the system provider device in the ad hoc merchantconfiguration system 100 may also implement a “location heartbeat” toperiodically confirm and/or update the physical location of the ad hocmerchant by periodically retrieving location information from themerchant device 300. By periodically confirming and/or updating thephysical location of the ad hoc merchant, the “pool” of ad hoc merchantsavailable to potential customers, via their customer devices, can beproperly updated and maintained by the system provider device.

Depending on a type of mobile device used by the merchant, the merchantrequest includes an SMS (text) message that may be entered and sent bythe merchant in any of a number of ways. For example, in theillustration of FIG. 3, the merchant device 300 may include a basic cellphone or basic feature phone (e.g., in contrast to a smartphone), wherethe merchant may compose a text message for example using multi-tapentry, text-on-nine-keys (T-9) entry, and/or other suitable techniques.While the embodiments herein are shown and described with reference to amerchant device 300 which includes a basic cell phone or basic featurephone, it will be understood that the systems and methods describedherein may equally be implemented with a merchant device 300 whichincludes a smartphone. As used herein, the term “smartphone” refers to amobile device having one or more of a plurality of features such as apersonal digital assistant, a media player, a digital camera, a GPSreceiver, a touchscreen user interface, an Internet browser, WiFiconnection capability, and/or many other features as known in the art.Thus, in embodiments where the merchant device 300 includes asmartphone, the merchant may compose a text message using alternativetechniques such as entry by way of physical keyboard (e.g., integratedwith the smartphone), entry by way of an on-screen keyboard (e.g., viathe touchscreen user interface), voice-to-text entry, and/or othersuitable techniques as known in the art; as well as using an applicationexecuting on the merchant device, a website available through a browserprovided on the merchant device, and/or via a variety of othersmartphone communication techniques known in the art.

The method 200 then proceeds to block 206 where the request to establishthe merchant virtual storefront is analyzed by the system provider. Inan embodiment of block 206, the system provider device 108 (FIG. 1)analyzes the ad hoc merchant request to establish a virtual storefrontfor the merchant at the merchant location 103. Analysis of the ad hocmerchant request by the system provider device 108 may include any oneof a plurality of operations. In some embodiments, upon receipt of themerchant request, the system provider device 108 (e.g., by way of an adhoc merchant engine) processes the text of the incoming merchantrequest. As a specific example, consider a merchant request with aformat similar to the request shown in the display 304 of the merchantdevice 300 (FIG. 3), where the message text (“Msg:” as shown in FIG. 3)of the merchant request is as follows: “Msg: Business: Marco's Tile.Business Ready. Tile Installation. $5 per sq. ft.” In some embodiments,the system provider device 108 processes the incoming message anddetermines, at least, that the name of the ad hoc merchant's business is“Marco's Tile”, the service provided is “Tile Installation”, the cost ofthe service is “$5 per sq. ft.”, and the ad hoc merchant is “Open forbusiness”. Additionally, in some embodiments, the system provider device108 may determine the ad hoc merchant's cell phone number (e.g., basedon the merchant device 300 from which the merchant request was received)and associate that phone number with an ad hoc merchant account storedin a database accessible to the system provider device 108. Inparticular, in some embodiments, the system provider device 108 mayfurther use the merchant's phone number to search the database for priorad hoc merchant requests to establish a virtual storefront originatingfrom the same phone number and/or requests originating from the samephone number and using the same business name (e.g., Marco's Tile). Invarious embodiments, the system provider device 108 may also use themerchant's business name to search for other nearby merchants using thesame name. If a naming conflict exists, the system provider device 108may prompt the merchant (e.g., via a text message to the merchant device300) to consider changing their business name, for example, in order toavoid customer confusion.

In yet other embodiments, the system provider device 108 may maintain anad hoc merchant rating system, feedback score, and/or trustworthinessscore for the ad hoc merchant. For example, such ad hoc merchant ratingsystems may be associated with the ad hoc merchant account, and providedto a customer via the customer device 104. In some examples, subsequentrequests to establish a virtual storefront for an ad hoc businessoriginating from the same phone number and using the same business namemay be used in the ad hoc merchant rating system to improve the ratingand/or score of a particular merchant. Also, in other embodiments, therating and/or score of a particular ad hoc merchant may be improvedaccording to a number of transactions associated with the ad hocmerchant's phone number and/or phone number and business name incombination. For example, payments from a customer to an ad hoc merchantusing the ad hoc merchant's phone number and utilizing a payment serviceprovider (e.g., PayPal, Inc. of San Jose, Calif.) may further improvethe ad hoc merchant's rating. In other examples, payments by an ad hocmerchant to a brick-and-mortar merchant (e.g., to purchase supplies forthe ad hoc business), where the ad hoc merchant utilizes a paymentservice provider (e.g., PayPal, Inc.) account to which the ad hocmerchant's phone number is associated, may also improve the ad hocmerchant's overall rating. While some examples of improving an ad hocmerchant's rating based on a number of transactions associated with thead hoc merchant's phone number have been provided, those skilled in theart in possession of the present disclosure will recognize otherexamples, including other types of transactions, may be used to verifyand improve the rating, score, and/or trustworthiness of an ad hocmerchant while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

The method 200 then proceeds to block 208 where the merchant virtualstorefront is generated by the system provider. Referring to FIGS. 1, 2,4, and 5, in an embodiment of block 208, the system provider device 108generates the merchant virtual storefront for the merchant at themerchant location 103 that may be provided to the customer device 104.Specifically, referring to FIG. 4, a customer device 400 is illustratedthat includes a display 400 a and an input button 400 b. While thecustomer device 400 is illustrated and described as a mobile phone, avariety of other customer devices are envisioned as falling within thescope of the present disclosure. In the illustrated embodiment, thecustomer device 400 is displaying a merchant search screen 402 thatprovides the customer associated with the customer device 400 with alisting of local merchants resulting from a search term entered in asearch bar 404 of the merchant search screen 402 (e.g., a listing of adhoc merchants (ad hoc merchants A and B) and brick-and-mortar merchants(merchants C and D) in the illustrated embodiment). In one example, thecustomer device 400 may include a system provider application and/or apayment service provider application (e.g., a PayPal, Inc. application)which may be launched by the customer and that provides for thefunctionality of the customer device 400 discussed below. In theillustrated embodiment, the merchant search screen 402 includes a searchresults section 402 a and an information section 402 b for providingadditional information and/or instructions to the customer.Additionally, in various embodiments, the search results section 402 amay further include a merchant name 402 c, a merchant rating 402 d(e.g., shown as a “star” rating, a numerical rating, and/or othersuitable rating), and a merchant distance 402 e (e.g., from the customerdevice 400). While the system provider and/or payment service providerapplication is illustrated as providing the merchant search screen 402immediately, in some embodiments, the customer may be required toprovide authentication credentials in order to access the merchantsearch screen 402.

As another specific example, and to provide more detail regarding themerchant virtual storefront, consider a food merchant sending a merchantrequest where the message text (“Msg:” as shown in FIG. 3) of themerchant request is as follows: “Msg: Business: Angelica's Tacos. Openuntil 4 pm. Cheese: $1. Chicken, Beef: $2.” In some embodiments, thesystem provider device 108 processes the incoming message anddetermines, at least, that the name of the ad hoc merchant's business is“Angelica's Tacos”, and the context of the menu items listed for sale(e.g., cheese, chicken, and beef tacos). By way of example, the systemprovider device 108 may use natural language processing and/or machinelearning to properly interpret the context and meaning of the merchantrequest. As discussed above, the merchant may not specifically includelocation information in the request, but rather the location, specificto the merchant device 300, may be embedded in the merchant request,having been determined for example by GPS-based methods,triangulation-based methods, or other appropriate methods.

In the present example, the system provider device 108 may reply to themerchant request by sending an SMS message (text message) to themerchant to confirm the merchant information and request. Specifically,the system provider device 108 may reply to the merchant with a merchantrequest confirmation text message such as: “Angelica's Tacos, Open until4 p.m., Located at the intersection of US Hwy. 290 and TX Hwy. 71,Cheese Taco: $1, Chicken Taco: $2, Beef Taco: $2. (Reply “OK” to confirmand post, or “EDIT” to change merchant information)”. As previouslydiscussed, the merchant in the present example may not have specificallyentered location information; however the system provider may determinethe merchant location as described above and provide the location to themerchant in the merchant request confirmation text message.

Additionally, as described above, the system provider device 108 maydetermine the ad hoc merchant's cell phone number and associate thatphone number with an ad hoc merchant account stored in a databaseaccessible to the system provider device 108. The system provider device108 may also use the ad hoc merchant's name, phone number, and/orlocation to search the database for prior ad hoc merchant requests toestablish a virtual storefront originating from the same phone number,and/or requests originating from the same phone number and using thesame business name (e.g., Angelica's Tacos), and/or to search forsimilarly named businesses located near the ad hoc merchant's location103. In some examples, if it is the first time an ad hoc merchant hasrequested establishment of a virtual storefront for an ad hoc business,there may not be a rating and/or score yet associated with thatparticular merchant. In other examples, as described above, subsequentrequests to establish a virtual storefront for the ad hoc business wouldimprove the merchant rating and/or score.

Returning to the present example, upon receiving a request to establisha merchant virtual storefront, the system provider may send aconfirmation request to the merchant device 300 to confirm the detailsof the merchant virtual storefront that were determined by the systemprovider. Upon confirmation by the ad hoc merchant (e.g., Angelica'sTacos) of the merchant request confirmation text message sent by thesystem provider (e.g., by editing any details, if necessary, andreplying “OK” to the system provider), the system provider device 108creates the ad hoc merchant virtual storefront and makes it accessiblevia search to customers via the customer device 104. In someembodiments, the system provider may also add and/or embed metadata(e.g., descriptive keywords) related to the ad hoc merchant to assist inproviding relevant search results to customers. In the present example(Angelica's Tacos), the system provider may add tag words such as“food”, “tacos”, “Latin”, “lunch”, “dinner”, “south”, and/or otherdescriptive keywords in association with the ad hoc merchant listing.Referring to FIG. 4, a customer associated with the customer device 400may launch a system provider application and/or a payment serviceprovider application (e.g., a PayPal, Inc. application) and search forthe term “Lunch”, as shown in a search bar 404 of the merchant searchscreen 402. In some embodiments, location 105 of the customer device 400may be determined by the system provider similarly as described abovewith reference to determination of the location 103 of the merchantdevice 300 (e.g., GPS, triangulation, etc.). As a result of thecustomer's search, a listing of local merchants (e.g., “local” meaningnear the present location of the customer device 400) is displayed inthe search results section 402 a of the merchant search screen 402. Inthe example of FIG. 4, four merchants are shown in the search resultssection 402 a and include “Ad Hoc Merchant A”, “Ad Hoc Merchant B”,“Merchant C”, and “Merchant D”. In some embodiments, Ad Hoc Merchant Aand Ad Hoc Merchant B may include merchants which have requestedestablishment of a virtual storefront, according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure, and may form a “pool” of ad hoc merchants asdescribed above. Also, in some embodiments, Merchant C and Merchant Dmay include traditional brick-and-mortar types of merchants. In additionto displaying the merchant names, each of the merchants includes arating 402 d and a distance 402 e from the customer location 105, wherethe customer location 105 is associated with the location of thecustomer device as shown in FIG. 1. While a specific example of searchresults for local merchants has been shown and described, one of skillin the art in possession of the present disclosure will recognize that awide variety of search results, search parameters, search filters,and/or other search functions may be implemented within the a systemsand methods discussed herein, and thus will fall within the scope of thepresent disclosure.

Continuing with the present example, and with reference to FIGS. 4 and5, the customer using the customer device 400 may be interested inseeing more information about Ad Hoc Merchant A, and in response mayselect Ad Hoc Merchant A (e.g., by way of a touchscreen user interfaceof the customer device 400). As a result of selecting Ad Hoc Merchant A,the customer device 400 displays an ad hoc merchant virtual storefront502 associated with Ad Hoc Merchant A, as shown in FIG. 5, that providesthe customer associated with the customer device 400 with a moredetailed set of information related to Ad Hoc Merchant A. For example,the ad hoc merchant virtual storefront 502 may include the merchant name402 c, the merchant rating 402 d, the merchant distance 402 e andlocation as shown on a map 502 a, a list of merchant offerings 502 b(e.g., a menu), and a check-in slider 502 c that allows customers inproximity to a merchant location to “check-in” to the merchant location,as discussed below.

The method 200 then proceeds to block 210 where the system providermanages a transaction between the customer device and the merchantvirtual storefront. In an embodiment of block 210, continuing with theabove example and with reference to FIGS. 5-9, consider that thecustomer that was interested in Ad Hoc Merchant A proceeds to the ad hocmerchant location 103, for example according to directions provided bythe map 502 a. In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 6, when a customerlocation 105 a is in proximity to the ad hoc merchant location 103, thenthe customer may be allowed to “check-in” to the ad hoc merchantlocation 103. In some examples, the customer may check-in to themerchant location 103 by sliding the check-in slider 502 c from left toright across the touchscreen user interface of the customer device 400.In embodiments of the present disclosure, a customer may “check-in” inorder to pay for goods and/or services, for example utilizing a paymentservice provider (e.g., PayPal, Inc.). In another embodiment, and withreference to FIGS. 6 and 7, when a customer at location 105 a checks-into an ad hoc merchant location 103, the system provider device 108 maynotify the ad hoc merchant. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the systemprovider device 108 may send an SMS message (text message) to themerchant device 102 to notify the merchant that a customer haschecked-in. For example, the system provider device 108 in FIG. 7 hassent a text message such as: “Customer: ‘Mary’ has checked in.” In someembodiments, for example when the merchant device 102 includes asmartphone, the check-in notification received by the merchant device102, from the system provider device 108, may include a photographand/or other customer-identifying information. In some embodiments,after a customer has checked-in, the merchant may issue a bill to thecustomer for goods provided and/or services rendered. For example, withreference to FIG. 8, the merchant may send a bill to the customer (viathe system provider device 108) by sending a text message such as: “Msg:Bill: Mary. Lunch Item #2. Total: $4.” In some embodiments, the systemprovider device 108 may process the incoming message and determine, forexample by using natural language processing and/or machine learning,that customer “Mary” should be billed $4 for Lunch Item #2.

Continuing with the above example, the customer, who has previouslychecked-in to the ad hoc merchant location 103, receives an electronicbill (e.g., from the payment service provider). With reference to theexample of FIG. 9, the customer device 400 is displaying a paymentscreen 902 associated with the ad hoc merchant virtual storefront 502(FIG. 5) for the ad hoc merchant location 103. As shown, the paymentscreen 902 provides the customer associated with the customer device 400with an itemized bill of the goods and/or services purchased from Ad HocMerchant A. For example, the payment screen 902 may include an itemizedbill section 902 a, an add/edit tip button 902 b, a pay button 902 c, areview merchant button 902 d, and a check-out slider 902 e that allowscustomers to check-out from a merchant location. In some embodiments,any of the add/edit tip button 902 b, the pay button 902 c, and/or thereview merchant button 902 d may include a touchscreen interface button.In some embodiments, the customer may check-out to the merchant location103 by sliding the check-out slider 902 e from right to left across thetouchscreen user interface of the customer device 400. In some examples,the check-in slider 502 c and the check-out slider 902 e aresubstantially the same slider configured in one of two positions (e.g.,a “checked-in position” or a “checked-out position”). In someembodiments, when a customer location 105 a is no longer in proximity tothe merchant location (e.g., customer location 105 of FIG. 1), then thecustomer may be automatically checked-out of the merchant location 103.In various embodiments, the customer may add and/or edit a tip, inaddition to the payment associated with the billed items, by way of theadd/edit tip button 902 b. Illustratively, the customer may use the paybutton 902 c to confirm payment (e.g., via the payment service provider)to the ad hoc merchant. In some embodiments, the customer may leave areview and/or feedback for the merchant using the review merchant button902 d. As discussed above, such customer reviews may be aggregated andbe made available to potential customers via the merchant virtualstorefront. In addition to customer reviews, in other embodiments, therating and/or score of Ad Hoc Merchant A may be improved upon completionof the customer transaction, as a number of transactions associated withthe ad hoc merchant's phone number increases, and/or in any of thevariety of manners discussed above.

After confirmation of payment by the customer, in some embodiments, themerchant may receive another text message from the system providerdevice 108 confirming successful completion of the transaction. In someexamples, the payment service provider or system provider may alsoitemize the goods and/or services sold throughout the existence of aparticular ad hoc merchant, for example, to help the ad hoc merchantkeep track of inventory and sales, and the payment service provider maysend such metrics to the ad hoc merchant (e.g., via text message, anapplication executing on the merchant device, etc.). In one example, thepayment service provider may provide such sales metrics by analyzing thepurchasing messages sent to the ad hoc merchant and its customers (e.g.,via the system provider device 108) to understand an amount of goodsand/or services sold. In addition, such inventory information may beprovided to customers to, for example, to inform those customers whetherinventory is low for particular items (e.g., “Angelica's Taco's isrunning low on chicken tacos—only 5 left!”).

In various embodiments, the system provider will store the ad hocmerchant information (e.g., name, phone number, location, and/or otherinformation), as well as transaction history, ratings, feedback, andtrustworthiness score in association with the ad hoc merchant account ina database that is accessible to the system provider device 108. In someembodiments, upon a subsequent request by the merchant to the systemprovider device 108 to establish a virtual storefront, the systemprovider may recognize if the ad hoc merchant has previously requestedto establish the same business (e.g., by comparison of phone numbersand/or business names stored in merchant accounts in the databaseaccessible to the system provider device 108). In some embodiments, thesystem provider may recall such previous requests to establish a virtualstorefront and also “remember” (i.e., recall from a system providermemory) previous attributes of the ad hoc merchant business such asbusiness name, hours of operation, merchant offerings, merchantlocation, and/or other merchant information. This information may bestored as an ad hoc merchant “business template”. In some embodiments,the ad hoc merchant may provide the merchant business template inresponse to subsequent requests to establish the virtual storefront(e.g., “You previously sold 3 types of tacos (chicken, beef, and cheese)and were open until 4 pm”), and/or the merchant may readily alter thebusiness template, for example, by sending a message to the systemprovider including any updated information (e.g., “update the price ofbeef tacos to $3 each”).

In various examples, the ad hoc merchant located at ad hoc merchantlocation 103 may move to a new location, for example, as part of normalbusiness operations, in order to find a more heavily traffickedlocation, in order to look for new customers, to take a break, to closethe business for the day, and/or for any number of other reasons knownin the art. Thus, it is beneficial for the systems and methods of thepresent disclosure to periodically update the location and status (i.e.,open/closed) of the ad hoc merchant. As such, the method 200 thenproceeds to block 212 where the system provider updates the merchantphysical location. In an embodiment of block 212, the ad hoc merchantconfiguration system 100 may implement a “location heartbeat” toperiodically retrieve, confirm and/or otherwise update the physicallocation of the ad hoc merchant. By periodically retrieving, confirming,and/or updating the physical location of ad hoc merchants, the “pool” ofad hoc merchants available to potential customers, via their customerdevices, can be properly updated and maintained by the system providerdevice. For example, with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11, if an ad hocmerchant that was previously located at the merchant location 103, movesto a new merchant location 103 a, the system provider device 108 maysend a text message to the merchant device 102. In some embodiments, thenew merchant location 103 a may be significantly different than merchantlocation 103. For example, the new merchant location 103 a may be in adifferent zip code or several miles away, while in other examples, thenew merchant location 103 a may also be just a few blocks away or evenacross a street. In the example of FIG. 11, the system provider device108 may text the merchant a status request update message such as: “Msg:It looks like you're closed—is this true? Reply ‘OPEN’ to remain Open.”In some embodiments, if the merchant wishes to stay open, the merchantmay reply ‘OPEN’ and the ad hoc virtual storefront will remain active,albeit with an updated ad hoc merchant location 103 a. In otherembodiments, if the merchant does not reply to such “location heartbeat”messages within a specified time (e.g., 15 or 30 minutes), then the adhoc merchant virtual storefront may be removed from the pool of merchantvirtual storefronts and/or the business may be indicated as beingclosed. In various embodiments, such location heartbeat requests fromthe system provider may be triggered by significant changes in the adhoc merchant location, as described above, or they may be sent out to adhoc merchants on specific time intervals, for example, every 30 minutes,every hour, or other customizable time interval. In other embodiments,the ad hoc merchant may also send specific requests to the systemprovider (e.g., via text message) to close/deactivate/remove their adhoc merchant virtual storefront.

Thus, systems and methods have been described that provide for thegeneration of merchant virtual storefronts for ad hoc merchants and theprovision of those merchant virtual storefronts to customers. Thegeneration and provision of merchant virtual storefronts provides ad hocmerchants with the ability to quickly and easily market and advertisetheir business with even very limited technology in manners that havebeen previously unavailable to them, and provides customers with moremerchants to choose from in whatever location they are currently in. Inaddition to generating and providing the merchant virtual storefronts,the system provider device may operate, alone or with others, to providepayments services, inventory tracking, sales tracking, and/or a varietyof other services to the merchant and/or customer that further benefitthe merchant's business and provide further conveniences for thecustomer.

While a specific example of a food merchant has been provided above,other types of merchants will benefit greatly from the systems andmethods of the present disclosure as well. For example, a sub-contractorsuch as a tile installer may use the systems and methods discussed aboveto have the details of their tile installation business provided tocustomers looking for tile installation, and have their current locationand/or contact information provided to customer such that thosecustomers may hire them for their services. The system provider devicemay operate to analyze searches by customers to determine whether an adhoc merchant is appropriate. For example, a customer that searches for“bathroom remodel” may be provided the ad hoc merchant details for thetile installation business discussed above. In addition, if the customerprovides details about the job to-be performed (e.g., a bathroom squarefootage), the system provider device may provide the customer thepotential cost of hiring that ad hoc merchant. Furthermore, if thesystem provider determines that the customer has hired the ad hocmerchant, (e.g., via a transaction begun between the merchant andcustomer, a message from the merchant and/or customer, etc.), the systemprovider device may update the status of that ad hoc merchant as “busy”or otherwise unavailable for other customers.

Referring now to FIG. 12, an embodiment of a network-based system 1200for implementing one or more processes described herein is illustrated.As shown, the network-based system 1200 may comprise or implement aplurality of servers and/or software components that operate to performvarious methodologies in accordance with the described embodiments.Exemplary servers may include, for example, stand-alone andenterprise-class servers operating a server OS such as a MICROSOFT® OS,a UNIX® OS, a LINUX® OS, or other suitable server-based OS. It can beappreciated that the servers illustrated in FIG. 12 may be deployed inother ways and that the operations performed and/or the servicesprovided by such servers may be combined or separated for a givenimplementation and may be performed by a greater number or fewer numberof servers. One or more servers may be operated and/or maintained by thesame or different entities.

The embodiment of the networked system 1200 illustrated in FIG. 12includes a plurality of customer devices 1204, a plurality of merchantdevices 1202, a payment service provider device 1206, account providerdevice(s) 1208, and/or a system provider device 1210 in communicationover one or more networks 1212. The customer devices 1204 may be thecustomer devices discussed above and may be operated by the customersdiscussed above. The merchant devices 1202 may be the merchant devicesdiscussed above and may be operated by the merchants discussed above.The payment service provider device 1206 may be the payment serviceprovider devices discussed above and may be operated by a paymentservice provider such as, for example, PayPal Inc. of San Jose, Calif.The system provider devices 1210 may be the system provider devicesdiscussed above and may be operated by the system providers discussedabove. The account provider devices 1208 may be operated by credit cardaccount providers, bank account providers, savings account providers,and a variety of other account providers known in the art.

The customer devices 1204, merchant devices 1202, account providerdevices 1208, payment service provider device 1206, and/or systemprovider device 1210 may each include one or more processors, memories,and other appropriate components for executing instructions such asprogram code and/or data stored on one or more computer readable mediumsto implement the various applications, data, and steps described herein.For example, such instructions may be stored in one or more computerreadable mediums such as memories or data storage devices internaland/or external to various components of the system 1200, and/oraccessible over the network 1212.

The network 1212 may be implemented as a single network or a combinationof multiple networks. For example, in various embodiments, the network1212 may include the Internet and/or one or more intranets, landlinenetworks, wireless networks, and/or other appropriate types of networks.

The customer devices 1204 may be implemented using any appropriatecombination of hardware and/or software configured for wired and/orwireless communication over network 1212. For example, in oneembodiment, the customer devices 1204 may be implemented as a personalcomputer of a user in communication with the Internet. In otherembodiments, the customer devices 1204 may be a smart phone, personaldigital assistant (PDA), laptop computer, and/or other types ofcomputing devices.

The customer devices 1204 may include one or more browser applicationswhich may be used, for example, to provide a convenient interface topermit the customer to browse information available over the network1212. For example, in one embodiment, the browser application may beimplemented as a web browser configured to view information availableover the Internet.

The customer devices 1204 may also include one or more toolbarapplications which may be used, for example, to provide user-sideprocessing for performing desired tasks in response to operationsselected by the customer. In one embodiment, the toolbar application maydisplay a user interface in connection with the browser application.

The customer devices 1204 may further include other applications as maybe desired in particular embodiments to provide desired features to thecustomer devices 1204. In particular, the other applications may includea payment application for payments assisted by a payment serviceprovider through the payment service provider device 1206. The otherapplications may also include security applications for implementinguser-side security features, programmatic user applications forinterfacing with appropriate application programming interfaces (APIs)over the network 1212, or other types of applications. Email and/or textapplications may also be included, which allow customer payer to sendand receive emails and/or text messages through the network 1212. Thecustomer devices 1204 includes one or more customer and/or deviceidentifiers which may be implemented, for example, as operating systemregistry entries, cookies associated with the browser application,identifiers associated with hardware of the customer devices 1204, orother appropriate identifiers, such as a phone number. In oneembodiment, the customer identifier may be used by the payment serviceprovider device 1206 and/or account provider device 1208 to associatethe user with a particular account as further described herein.

The merchant devices 1202 may be maintained, for example, by ad hocmerchants offering various products and/or services in exchange forpayment to be received conventionally or over the network 1212. In thisregard, the merchant devices 1202 may include a database identifyingavailable products and/or services (e.g., collectively referred to asitems) which may be made available for viewing and purchase by thecustomer.

The merchant device 1202 may also provide a checkout application whichmay be configured to facilitate the purchase by the payer of items. Thecheckout application may be configured to accept payment informationfrom the customer through the customer devices 1204, the accountprovider through the account provider device 1208, and/or from thepayment service provider through the payment service provider device1206 over the network 1212.

Referring now to FIG. 13, an embodiment of a customer device 1300 isillustrated. The customer device 1300 may be the customer devices 104 or400 discussed above. The customer device 1300 includes a chassis 1302having a display 1304 and an input device including the display 1304 anda plurality of input buttons 1306. One of skill in the art willrecognize that the customer device 1300 is a portable or mobile phoneincluding a touch screen input device and a plurality of input buttonsthat allow the functionality discussed above with reference to themethods above. However, a variety of other portable/mobile customerdevices and/or desktop customer devices may be used in the methodsdiscussed above without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 14, an embodiment of a computer system 1400suitable for implementing, for example, the customer devices 104 or 400,merchant devices 102 or 1202, payment service provider device 1206,account provider device(s) 1208, and/or system provider devices 108 or1210, is illustrated. It should be appreciated that other devicesutilized by customers, merchants, account provider devices, paymentservice providers, and/or system providers in the system discussed abovemay be implemented as the computer system 1400 in a manner as follows.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure,computer system 1400, such as a computer and/or a network server,includes a bus 1402 or other communication mechanism for communicatinginformation, which interconnects subsystems and components, such as aprocessing component 1404 (e.g., processor, micro-controller, digitalsignal processor (DSP), etc.), a system memory component 1406 (e.g.,RAM), a static storage component 1408 (e.g., ROM), a disk drivecomponent 1410 (e.g., magnetic or optical), a network interfacecomponent 1412 (e.g., modem or Ethernet card), a display component 1414(e.g., CRT or LCD), an input component 1418 (e.g., keyboard, keypad, orvirtual keyboard), a cursor control component 1420 (e.g., mouse,pointer, or trackball), a location determination component 1422 (e.g., aGlobal Positioning System (GPS) device as illustrated, a cell towertriangulation device, and/or a variety of other location determinationdevices known in the art), and/or a camera component 1423. In oneimplementation, the disk drive component 1410 may comprise a databasehaving one or more disk drive components.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the computersystem 1400 performs specific operations by the processor 1404 executingone or more sequences of instructions contained in the memory component1406, such as described herein with respect to the customer devices 104or 400, merchant devices 102 or 1202, payment service provider device1206, account provider device(s) 1208, and/or system provider devices108 or 1210. Such instructions may be read into the system memorycomponent 1406 from another computer readable medium, such as the staticstorage component 1408 or the disk drive component 1410. In otherembodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or incombination with software instructions to implement the presentdisclosure.

Logic may be encoded in a computer readable medium, which may refer toany medium that participates in providing instructions to the processor1404 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but notlimited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.In one embodiment, the computer readable medium is non-transitory. Invarious implementations, non-volatile media includes optical or magneticdisks, such as the disk drive component 1410, volatile media includesdynamic memory, such as the system memory component 1406, andtransmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiberoptics, including wires that comprise the bus 1402. In one example,transmission media may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such asthose generated during radio wave and infrared data communications.

Some common forms of computer readable media includes, for example,floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magneticmedium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, anyother physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM,FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, carrier wave, or anyother medium from which a computer is adapted to read. In oneembodiment, the computer readable media is non-transitory.

In various embodiments of the present disclosure, execution ofinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure may beperformed by the computer system 1400. In various other embodiments ofthe present disclosure, a plurality of the computer systems 1400 coupledby a communication link 1424 to the network 1212 (e.g., such as a LAN,WLAN, PTSN, and/or various other wired or wireless networks, includingtelecommunications, mobile, and cellular phone networks) may performinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure in coordinationwith one another.

The computer system 1400 may transmit and receive messages, data,information and instructions, including one or more programs (i.e.,application code) through the communication link 1424 and the networkinterface component 1412. The network interface component 1412 mayinclude an antenna, either separate or integrated, to enabletransmission and reception via the communication link 1424. Receivedprogram code may be executed by processor 1404 as received and/or storedin disk drive component 1410 or some other non-volatile storagecomponent for execution.

Referring now to FIG. 15, an embodiment of a system provider device 1500is illustrated. In an embodiment, the device 1500 may be the systemprovider device 108 discussed above. The device 1500 includes acommunication engine 1502 that is coupled to the network 1212 and to anad hoc merchant engine 1504 that is coupled to a customer informationdatabase 1506 and a merchant information database 1508. Thecommunication engine 1502 may be software or instructions stored on acomputer-readable medium that allows the device 1500 to send and receiveinformation over the network 1212. The an ad hoc merchant engine 1504may be software or instructions stored on a computer-readable mediumthat is operable to receive and analyze requests to establish a merchantvirtual storefront from an ad hoc merchant, determine an ad hoc merchantphysical location, determine an ad hoc merchant's offering, establishthe merchant virtual storefront, provide the ad hoc merchant virtualstorefront to a customer device, as well as provide any of the otherfunctionality that is discussed above. While the databases 1506 and 1508have been illustrated as located in the device 1500, one of skill in theart will recognize that they may be connected to the an ad hoc merchantengine 1504 through the network 1212 without departing from the scope ofthe present disclosure.

Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosuremay be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardwareand software. Also, where applicable, the various hardware componentsand/or software components set forth herein may be combined intocomposite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. Where applicable,the various hardware components and/or software components set forthherein may be separated into sub-components comprising software,hardware, or both without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated thatsoftware components may be implemented as hardware components andvice-versa.

Software, in accordance with the present disclosure, such as programcode and/or data, may be stored on one or more computer readablemediums. It is also contemplated that software identified herein may beimplemented using one or more general purpose or specific purposecomputers and/or computer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Whereapplicable, the ordering of various steps described herein may bechanged, combined into composite steps, and/or separated into sub-stepsto provide features described herein.

The foregoing disclosure is not intended to limit the present disclosureto the precise forms or particular fields of use disclosed. As such, itis contemplated that various alternate embodiments and/or modificationsto the present disclosure, whether explicitly described or impliedherein, are possible in light of the disclosure. For example, the aboveembodiments have focused on merchants and customers; however, a customeror consumer can pay, or otherwise interact with any type of recipient,including charities and individuals. The payment does not have toinvolve a purchase, but may be a loan, a charitable contribution, agift, etc. Thus, merchant as used herein can also include charities,individuals, and any other entity or person receiving a payment from acustomer. Having thus described embodiments of the present disclosure,persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that changes may bemade in form and detail without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is limited only by the claims.

1.-20. (canceled)
 21. A system, comprising: at least one processingunit; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the atleast one processing unit, perform operations, comprising: receiving anelectronic text-based message from a merchant device; analyzing theelectronic text-based message by a natural language processing system todetermine whether the electronic message includes a request to establisha merchant virtual storefront; when it is determined that the electronictext-based message includes the request: automatically determine one ormore products or services the merchant is offering based, at least inpart, on information included in the electronic text-based message;sending a confirmation electronic message to the merchant device toconfirm the request; and automatically generate the merchant virtualstorefront, wherein the merchant virtual storefront includes informationabout the one or more products or services the merchant offering; andproviding the merchant virtual storefront to a customer device inresponse to receiving a request from the customer device.
 22. The systemof claim 21, further comprising instructions for: receiving a pluralityof requests to establish a plurality of merchant virtual storefrontsfrom a plurality of merchant devices; creating an ad hoc labor pool thatincludes a plurality of merchant virtual storefronts, wherein each ofthe plurality of merchant virtual storefronts include at least onerespective merchant offering; and providing at least a subset of the adhoc labor pool to the customer device.
 23. The system of claim 21,further comprising instructions for periodically sending a statusrequest update message to the merchant device.
 24. The system of claim21, further comprising instructions for determining a physical locationof the merchant based, at least in part, on information associated withthe merchant device.
 25. The system of claim 21, further comprisinginstructions for: associating a merchant device identifier with amerchant account in a database; and searching the database for priorrequests to establish the merchant virtual storefront, the request beingassociated with the merchant device identifier.
 26. The system of claim25, further comprising instructions for: processing a transaction at apayment service provider, wherein the transaction is associated with themerchant device identifier.
 27. The system of claim 21, furthercomprising instructions for modifying a rating of a merchant associatedwith the merchant device.
 28. A method, comprising: receiving, over acommunication network, an electronic message from a merchant device;analyzing the electronic message to determine whether the electronicmessage includes a request to establish a merchant virtual storefront;when it is determined the electronic message includes the request:analyzing the electronic message to automatically determine one or moremerchant offerings; sending a confirmation electronic message to themerchant device confirming the request; and automatically generate themerchant virtual storefront that includes the merchant offering; andproviding the merchant virtual storefront to a customer device.
 29. Themethod of claim 28, further comprising determining a physical locationof the merchant.
 30. The method of claim 29, wherein the physicallocation is determined based, at least in part, on informationassociated with the merchant device.
 31. The method of claim 29, furthercomprising: periodically sending a status request update message to themerchant device; and updating the physical location of the merchantbased, at least in part, on a received response.
 32. The method of claim29, further comprising: determining, based at least in part, on receivedinformation from the merchant device that the merchant device is locatedat an alternate physical location; and updating the physical location ofthe merchant.
 33. The method of claim 28, further comprising:Associating a merchant device identifier with a merchant account storedin a database; and Searching the database for prior requests from themerchant device identifier to establish the merchant virtual storefront.34. The method of claim 33, further comprising: processing a transactionat a payment service provider, wherein the transaction is associatedwith the merchant device identifier; and modifying a rating of amerchant associated with the merchant device.
 35. The method of claim33, further comprising: associating a merchant name with the merchantaccount stored in the database; detecting a naming conflict between themerchant name and another merchant name that is associated with anothermerchant account in the database; and sending a name change message tothe merchant device.
 36. The method of claim 28, further comprisingdetermining whether a customer is at a physical location of themerchant.
 37. The method of claim 36, further comprising processing atransaction of the customer when the customer is at the physicallocation of the merchant.
 38. A system, comprising: one or moreprocessors; and a memory coupled to the one or more processors andstoring instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors,cause the system to perform operations, comprising: receiving anelectronic message from a merchant device; creating a merchant virtualstorefront based, at least in part, on information contained in theelectronic message, the merchant virtual storefront including a merchantoffering; sending a confirmation electronic message to the merchantdevice confirming the creation of the merchant virtual storefront; andproviding the merchant virtual storefront to a customer device.
 39. Thesystem of claim 38, further comprising instructions for determining aphysical location of the merchant based, at least in part, oninformation associated with the merchant device.
 40. The system of claim38, further comprising instructions for: associating a merchant deviceidentifier with a merchant account in a database; and searching thedatabase for prior requests from the merchant device identifier toestablish the merchant virtual storefront.